Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday dismissed a four-page letter sent by special counsel Robert Mueller complaining about the way Barr characterized his report into Mueller’s Russian collusion probe.
“The letter’s a bit snitty, and I think it was written by one of his staff people,” Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The letter from Mueller was leaked to the press Tuesday evening, hours before Barr’s critical testimony about the Mueller report before the Judiciary Committee.
The testimony showed a division between Barr and Mueller, who Barr at one point reminded the panel had served many years in the government as “a political appointee” and not a career prosecutor.
Barr said he also disagreed with Mueller’s decision to extend the investigation to probe obstruction without issuing a conclusion on that charge.
Mueller, in a March 27 letter, said Barr’s own four-page summary of Mueller’s findings “did not fully capture the context, nature and substance,” of his report.
Democrats pointed to the Mueller letter to underscore their belief Barr mischaracterized the Mueller report to benefit the president.
Barr refused a request by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to turn over his notes of a phone conversation with Mueller about that letter.
“Why should you have them?” Barr said.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he would ask Mueller, “Is there anything about that conversation you disagree with and if there is, you can come and tell us.”
